Seeking Transcendence

The Quest for Spirituality in an Age of Detachment
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-89456-0
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 244 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Seeking Transcendence examines the various paths taken by those who have detached themselves from their traditional, institutional religious roots but are seeking non-traditional paths to spiritual experiences. Called the “nones” or non-affiliated in poplar mass media these include a significant number of Western folks who maintain a belief in God or at least consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.”

Each chapter of the book explores these trends with a specific theme, as well as a case study based upon the author’s ethnographic observation of alternative spiritual communities and practices in North America and Western Europe.

Ultimately, this book shows how contemporary alternatives to traditional, institutional religion appeal to nones, presenting the relevance of new religious movements and more secular spiritual paths to transcendence.

Zielgruppe

Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Manzella, Joseph C.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Agnostizismus, Atheismus, Säkularer Humanismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Prologue: A Spiritual Journey

1. Introduction: Transcendence

I’m Spiritual, not Religious

2. Are There Cults?

What is a Cult?

Case Study: Twelve Tribes and Tribulations

Summary

3. Evangelicals: Politics and Media

Evangelism in a Barn

Case Study: Evangelical Blowback from the Left.

Summary

4. From East To West

An Age of Gurus

Case Study: Yogananda’s Legacy

Summary

5. Indigenous Spirituality

At a Lakota Gas Station

Case Study: Power of the Potlatch

Summary

6. New Age, Neopagan

Earth and Spirituality

Case Study: Deep in Damanhur

Summary

7. Meditation In Motion

Art of Softness

Case Study: Walking Mindfully in Plum Village

Summary

8. Thin Places of Peace: Alternative Christianity

Liminal Spaces

Case Study: On the Road With Brother Roger

Summary

9. Pilgrimages and Other Spiritual Journeys

The Secular and the Spiritual

Case Study: The Way, the Secular and the Spiritual

Summary

Epilogue: The Threads

Über Autor(innen)

Joseph C. Manzella, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Southern Connecticut State University, USA. He is co-founder of the Anthropology Department and served as its first chair, as well as having published several articles and two books on media in Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, Western Europe, Venezuela and the United States. The subject of his 2010 book Common Purse, Uncommon Future was intentional communities.